Haven't We Met Before?
by fandomgirlforeva
Summary: Keith has been alone ever since his parents died and he was given to an orphanage made of nightmares. He was miserable, but a visit from the local school changes that when he meets a young boy that he immediately becomes friends with. But years after they've been separated, will the two remember each other? Or will their friendship be a thing of memories?
1. Chapter 1

**I own absolutely nothing from Voltron Legendary Defender. I don't own the characters, I totally wish I did but that belongs to Dreamworks and the geniuses behind the show. I only am taking credit for putting a spin on it.**

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Keith sat alone in a corner as he heard the orderly enter the room that housed 40 children through the ages of 5-17. The large building the orphanage occupied had once been a mental institution for the criminally insane and had several large rooms that had been used as common areas that were now transformed into large rooms that weren't fit to accommodate as many kids as the Galra Orphanage would gain. Each room would maybe house 25-30 people and that was even uncomfortably. With 40 children in one room that barely bathed, it got hot, and it smelled rancid enough for the children to get sick. The place was a living nightmare, and it was no place for children, or humans.

Keith had been alone ever since he could remember. The orderlies and nurses would tell him that his parents and his home had burned down in a horrible fire that had been caused by a lightning strike in the middle of the night. The firemen had found him cradled in his father's arms outside the house, but his father had been hit over the head with falling wood and died shortly after he exited the house. His mother had been found upstairs, or what was left of the upstairs level. The house had been almost completely consumed by flames before the firemen could put it out, and Keith had even seen pictures of where his house once stood. It was gruesome.

After Keith came to the orphanage, he quickly closed himself off from the rest of the children. They tried to talk to him, but they soon gave up and left the sad boy alone to his own misery. And in a place like the Galra Orphanage, there was plenty of misery to go around. There were bars on the windows, piles of filth, vomit, and blood wherever they stepped, and a smell that would never go away. On top of that, the people in charge of the orphanage; Zarkon, Haggar, Iverson, and Sendak were the cruelest people Keith had even encountered even though he was only 5 years old. They barely fed the children, barked orders at them, and expected the children to always be happy, nice, and adoptable even in the horrible conditions they lived in. They would physically attack kids if they didn't do what they wanted, and didn't even give a crap if the orphanage succeeded or failed because they all wanted to leave anyway.

Keith's torture never let up, it always seemed like the wardens were always glaring at him, the kids teased him for being alone all the time, and it always seemed like a dark cloud hung over him. The only time that his pain seemed to ease was when the annual visit from the Altea Elementary came around and he could at least watch all of the kids having fun. He never joined in on the games, even if the kids from Altea kept begging and pleading for him to come along and play. He didn't find fun in the games that the kids would play, but he liked seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter that came along with the games.

"HEY! I'm talking to you you filthy little maggot!" Iverson yelled in his face to knock Keith out of his pleasant little memory of the last school visit.

"I-I'm s-sorry sir." Keith murmurs quietly.

"You better be! Now hurry up! The school is coming and we have to have _all_ the kids outside! No matter how much of an embarrassment you are." The one eyed man stalks out of the room and Keith stands up from the corner on shaky legs and follows to the courtyard.

It seemed like any other visit. The bus loads of children from Altea filled into the yard and the bright and happy school children would bleed into the orphanage courtyard and brighten all of the orphans that they talked to. Once the buses were unloaded and the kids started to mingle, Keith broke away from the large group and wandered to a far corner of the yard so he could still see the kids, he just didn't participate. He gained a small smile on his usually frowning face and heard the joyous laughs, screams, and voices filter over to his lonely corner. He was so busy watching that he didn't even notice the child coming closer to him. "Hello?" The boy asks.

Keith jumps and tries to scramble away from the voice, but since he was in a corner, he didn't get far. "Whoa whoa!" The kid jumps back in shock. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

Keith looks at the boy quickly, he was about as tall as him with short brown hair, very tan skin, dark blue eyes, and blue and white shirt, and long jean shorts that stopped at his knees that were scraped and bruised. He wore black and white sneakers, and his gaping mouth showed a few teeth missing. He looked like a pleasant enough boy, Keith just didn't understand why he wanted to talk to him. "Who are you?" Keith asks, his voice more aggressive than he meant as he sat in the fetal position.

It seemed that the aggression didn't bother the boy in front of him in the slightest. In fact, he seemed happy as he gave Keith a bright smile. "I'm Lance McClain!"

"Why are you over here?" Keith brought his head up a little so Lance could actually make out the thin face with bright violet eyes and shaggy black hair.

Lance's bright smile never deterred. "I wanted to talk to you! You looked lonely, and nobody should ever be lonely!"

Keith rolls his eyes and sets his chin on his knees. "I'm always lonely, there's nothing new about it."

Lance cocks his head as his smile drops to a frown. "Why?"

"I don't like people." Keith answers. "They're mean to me."

Lance brightens again, "then I won't be! I'm nice! I promise! I'll make you not be lonely again so you can like people! They're not all bad!"

So without giving Keith any time to reject the young boy's idea, Lance plops down in the dirt and talks to Keith for the rest of the day. Slowly, Keith crept out of his fetal position and by the end of the day he sat cross legged across from Lance and they were talking animatedly about what they liked. They were interrupted by Lance's teacher coming over and taking Lance away from him, though that didn't stop Keith from getting up and following. "You'll be back for the next visit, right?" Keith asks hopefully as he's forced to stop at the gate by a glaring Iverson.

"Yes I will! Same spot!" Lance calls, "bye Keith!"

"Bye Lance!"

Lance almost didn't hear the young boy's call before the bus door shut, but luckily, he did. And he ran to an open window and waved to Keith until he was out of sight.

And that day started the next several years of Lance and Keith meeting in that same corner every year to talk, until Lance's family is moved away when they're both 15 and they're forced to say goodbye. The day that Lance tells him, is full of long goodbyes, ugly tears, and both boys being sad that they lost their best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter has mentions of violence but they're not too graphic, there's no blood mention but there are hints to background character death and traumatizing situations.**

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 **~10 Years Later~**

Keith sighed to himself as he put up the collar on his jacket to block out the cold better. In hindsight, the red cut off jacket was not a good idea because it only covered his upper body and not his actual midriff. It was annoying, mainly because it was one of the only jackets that he actually owned. He several jobs, and got good money, but he just kept forgetting to go to the store and buy a jacket, and didn't really have time to surf the internet to find one. He had to work three jobs, one after the other, and he barely got enough of a break to sleep. After Shiro had adopted him at 16, he had got him a tutoring program and Keith graduated had just recently graduated and gotten his high school diploma so he had applied for several jobs, finally landing the three he was currently in; he was a construction worker, a gym trainer in training (ironically), and he volunteered with the local pet shelter which didn't exactly pay but he was glad he could at least help out orphaned animals that were just like him.

Keith made his way into the shelter and shook himself as the warmer air hit him. "Well it looks like someone finally decided to show up." Katie remarks as she counts the money in the register.

"Well excuse me if I can't drive the car that my father gave me for my 16th birthday since I never got one." Keith snaps as he hangs his jacket in the back room and change into the shirt that said _**Balmera Pet Shelter: Where Every Pet Rocks**_ , since it was his uniform. "And I sincerely don't understand these shirts."

Katie shrugs as well and sorts the money back into the correct slots. "I don't know, Shay's parents used to be geologists I think until they started this place and they decided it'd be a funny play on words or something."

"The only thing that people laugh at is the ridiculousness of it. No disrespect to her parents of course."

Katie snorts, "since when do you care what her parents think?"

Keith smirks and sets his hand on his hip. "Since they're standing right behind you."

Katie lets out an unearthly yowl and jumps out of her chair, and when she lands she was off balance so she fell onto her backside while Keith died of laughter. Katie jumps up and whirls around, just to find absolutely nobody behind her. "Oh you are so dead Keith!" She shrieks.

Keith sticks out his tongue and gives her a wink, "only if you can catch me Pidge." And he took off running as she chased him.

They ran through the dog kennels causing them to bark, the outdoor areas while causes the animals outside to chase them too, and finally Keith slows down and lets her tackle him when they get back into the main building. Of course since he was stronger than her 5 foot form he easily sat on top of her while she pretended to gasp for air. "Somebody! Help! I'm being crushed by a homeless neanderthal!"

Keith lightly slaps the side of her before standing up and helping the smaller woman to her feet. "You put up a semi-good fight Pidgeon, but you should know by now that I'm always gonna win."

Pidge rolls her eyes and shoves him as she makes her way back around to the reception desk. "Yeah right, the only reason you win is because you're 6 feet tall and I'm a foot shorter than you."

Keith snorts before making his way back to the dog kennels to calm them all down with some food. It was about 6:30 in the morning so the shelter would open at 7:00 and they had to be ready to gain a whole lot more business since Shay had just created a website for the place last night and they already had more than 500 people comment on the animals that they posted, and they barely posted half of the adorable animals on the website. Keith makes his way down the line of dogs in the display kennels before going out back to find their more difficult canines. There were seven dogs in all that were in their difficult list; an all black Great Pyrenees who didn't even look at owners that came to look at him, an all red Australian Kelpie that almost bit the hand off of several of potential buyers, a grey Weimaraner with crystal blue eyes that jumps away from anyone that comes close to it, a large Mastiff that barrels at anyone that comes at it, a small Pomeranian with sharp green eyes that never stops barking, a Samoyed that sticks her nose up at anyone that comes close and only stays near the Great Pyrenees, and an orange Irish Terrier that just laid down and played dead until the people left. The dogs refused to get adopted, and since Shay refused to put them down or give them away she insisted they try and train them until they're good enough for homes. The only one that Keith could apparently train was the Australian Kelpie because she would just come right up to him and sit at his feet. Keith didn't understand the dogs, but he just fed them pet whichever ones would let him and was on his way.

Keith finished feeding the animals about a half hour later, just as Shay opened the front doors and people started to file in to start looking at the animals, including Shay's boyfriend Hunk. "Hunk! I can't believe you made it!" She exclaims as she gives the lovable goofball a tight hug.

"Hey Shay! Yeah, I was looking at your website this morning and I saw a Mastiff I think it was? He looked really nice, I wanted to check him out. And my friend wanted to look at that grey dog with that really hard to pronounce name later today."

Shay scratches the back of her neck, "those two are in our difficult section, but sure. If you want to look at them then that's perfectly fine. Hey Keith! You mind taking Hunk back to the dogs?" Shay asks as she turns to flash a bright, but slightly forced smile to Keith.

The man nods and gives Hunk a smile, though the man was giving him a really strange look that causes Keith's smile to falter slightly. "Uh yeah, sure. Right this way."

He led Hunk through the shelter, and as they wove in between the people Hunk finally spoke. "Have I seen you somewhere before? You seem _super_ familiar."

Keith shakes his head, "I don't think so man, you might have seen me on Shay's website I guess?"

Their conversation comes to a halt though when they finally arrive at the kennel with the 7 dogs and Keith opens the kennel just enough to allow himself and Hunk in before closing it to keep the dogs from running. "Okay, the Mastiff that you want to look at is known to charge at people and bark really loudly, so hopefully today he'll be a little bit more cooperative." Keith whistles, but the Mastiff doesn't even turn his back to look at him. "Why don't you try?"

Hunk gives him an unsure look before clearing his throat, "come here boy, I just want to see ya for a minute."

At the sound of Hunk's voice the dog jumps up, turns toward them, and bolts at them. Keith takes a step back and puts his hands up in case the dog attacks him, but he goes straight for Hunk and tackles him to the ground to lick all over his face as Hunk laughs. "Well aren't you just the affectionate type." Hunk says in between the long licks the dog gives him. "I'll take him!" He says to Keith as the assault of licks continues.

After Keith helps Hunk sit up they attach a leash to the Mastiff and Keith and Hunk make their way to the reception desk to get everything sorted out as the Mastiff trots happily next to Hunk, not pulling on the leash at all like most dogs when they're finally let out of a shelter or pound. When they finally arrive at the front desk Shay and Pidge are completely shocked to find the Mastiff with Hunk. "He likes you!?" Shay asks, clearly surprised.

Hunk nods with a bright smile that seems to light up the room. "Yeah! I'm just as surprised as you are! But he tackled me and started to lick me all over, so I think he just needed the right person to love him. I'm gonna call him Tank, since he's so huge and he weighs a ton." Hunk scratches the dog's head as he talks to Pidge about all of the details of adopting Tank.

Shay walks over and stands by Keith. "How did you do it? Did you find catnip for dogs or something?"

Keith shakes his head in disbelief before shrugging. "I have no idea, Tank didn't come to me when I whistled, but as soon as Hunk spoke it was like a switch was flipped. It's like Tank was just waiting for Hunk to show up."

"So what, suddenly all those dogs are just waiting for the right people to show up? I highly doubt that." Shay says dismissively. "I believe in the whole, 'man's best friend thing' but that's taking it a little far, don't you think? I mean dogs are usually happy to see anybody. But it never happens like this."

Keith shrugs, "I don't know. I'm just telling you what I think."

Before Shay can comment the door opens and Allura and Shiro walk in. The two were only a few years older than Keith, but they were already married when they adopted him. They were only about 25 themselves and he was only 16, but it seemed good enough for Zarkon because he just told him to pack his stuff, which wasn't very much, and to leave. Shiro had been one of the student teachers that had gone to the orphanage most of the years, and he had seen Keith all by himself after Lance left. He didn't feel bad for him, it was more that he knew what it was like to be lonely and he didn't want Keith to go through that anymore. Shiro had drafted in the army right out of high school, but on his second tour when he was 23 his convoy was attacked and he was one of the four soldiers that made it out and traveled over 100 miles back to civilization and to safety. Unfortunately, all the shrapnel that had been in his arm caused a horrible infection, and he was forced to cut it off halfway through their journey if he didn't want to die. When he got back he underwent an experimental study using a robotic arm that was attached to the nerves that they rebuilt in his shoulder, and it moved like a real arm, but just to not draw attention he almost always wore long sleeves and gloves to hide it.

"Hey guys!" Keith greets, glad to get away from Shay and her weird pessimistic episode.

"Hey Keith, we came to look for some animals. I've been begging Shiro to get me on and he finally said yes!" Allura squeals excitedly as she squeezes his robotic arm in excitement.

Keith raises an amused eyebrow at Shiro. "Really? You actually agreed to that?"

Shiro nods sheepishly, "I can't so no to her forever Keith. We _are_ married after all and I really don't have anywhere to go if she tries to argue with me and I try to storm out. She also follows me so that puts a little damper on things too."

Allura smacks him in the stomach and rolls her eyes. "You're not as funny as you think you are Shiro." She scolds before turning back to Keith and smiling. "So, are there any animals that we might look at that would be a good fit for us?"

Keith looks between the two of them and two of them immediately come to mind. "You know what, I think I have the perfect idea for you two."

Keith ends up showing them the Great Pyrenees and the Samoyed, and they all instantly fall in love with each other. Keith smirks to himself as he leads the two back to the front of the store. "If you guys talk to Pidge then you can sort out everything." Keith informs them, and after Allura thanks him and gives him a big hug they depart and stand in line behind a family that adopted a hamster and a kitten.

Keith sighs and shakes his head with a smile as he hears the bell above the door ring. "Hi, welcome to Balm-." As he turns around he's shocked at who he sees. "Lance?"


	3. Chapter 3

Keith was at a complete loss for words. "L-Lance?"

The darker skinned man didn't hear Keith, and walked right past him to talk to Pidge about looking at the dog that he had seen on the website. Keith just stood stock still, not able to move a muscle as he looked at the man that he thought he would never see or talk to again. Lance was a lot taller, but now Keith had an extra inch or so on him instead of being shorter than him when they were 15. His hair was slightly longer, and his skin had a richer tan since he had been living in Cuba. His legs were long, but the jeans that he wore hugged him in all the right places, which was in stark contrast to the jacket that he wore that was a size or so to big. His smile was still as breathtaking as it had been when they were young, and his dark blue eyes sparkled with mischief and mirth. Keith couldn't believe Lance was standing not four feet away from him. He was actually there, and he was looking right at him.

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Lance was ecstatic to meet Hunk at his girlfriend's shelter. Last night they had spent hours looking at the pictures on her newly created website, and Lance had instantly fallen in love with the Weimaraner with the crystal blue eyes. She was adorable, and Lance couldn't wait to meet her. That was mainly why he had a little skip in his step as he walked into the shelter and saw his old friend Katie Holt at the reception desk. "Hey Pidge!" He says brightly as soon as he walks up.

Pidge briefly looks at him before going back to typing on her computer quickly. "Hi Lance, what are you here for?"

Lance puts a hand over his heart and gasps. "Seriously? No 'I missed you Lance' or 'welcome back Lance' or 'my life sucked without seeing your handsome face every day Lance'? Just a 'hi Lance why are you here'?! I'm hurt Pidge!"

Pidge rolls her eyes as she continues to type several hundred words per minute. "Lance, I'm busy. We've already had 7 adoptions today and I need to file all their information into the computer. I'll talk to you and greet you kindly at a time where I don't have to get all of this in before another adoption. What are you doing here?"

Lance laughs, "I'm here to look at a dog. I'm not sure how to pronounce it but she's grey with blue eyes?"

Pidge nods and pauses for a moment. "She's one of our difficult dogs. Not a whole lot of us deal with them usually, but I think Keith is usually the one that deals with them."

 _Keith? Why does that name sound so familiar?_ Lance thought as Pidge motioned with her head to where Keith was standing.

Lance turns to find the man that Pidge was talking about, and it turned out that he was already looking at Lance anyway. He had shoulder length thick black hair that had bangs hanging in his dark violet eyes, and a tall build with broad shoulders. He had about an inch on Lance in height, and wore a black shirt with white lettering for the Balmera Shelter. He was very good looking, but he seemed super familiar. Lance walks over and holds out his hand. "Hey, I'm Lance."

Keith stands still and just stares at him for a moment before knocking himself out of his shock and reaches forward to grasp Lance's hand. "I'm Keith."

They each hold on just a little too long, before dropping their hands and Lance scratches the back of his head. "So Pidge told me that you could show me the dog I'm looking for? She's grey with blue eyes."

Keith nods in understanding. "Yeah, I know the one you're looking for. She's out back, I'll take you."

The two walk in silence as they weave in between all of the people that were gushing about the different animals that they wanted to buy or wanted their parents to buy. Keith mostly ignored them and looked at the ground as they walked, but Lance smiled at everyone that even looked like they were looking at him. He was always trying to be nice to anyone that he met, ever since his mom told him that everyone deserves kindness and he took it to heart.

Lance was knocked out of his thoughts though when he notices that Keith has stopped and is staring at him with a really weird expression. "Is something wrong?" Lance asks.

Keith shakes his head quickly. "No, sorry. You just remind me of a guy I used to know. It's nothing." Before Lance could react Keith turns and enters the gate holding a few dogs. "She's in here by the way."

Lance enters the fence as well and immediately picked out the dog he was looking for. She was looking straight at him and as he approached she got up and started wagging her tail really fast. Lance smiles and jogs over to the dog who was rolled over on her back and looking up at him expectantly by the time he got to her. Lance kneels down and starts scratching her stomach, causing the dog's leg to beat back and forth and her tail to wag almost even faster, which seemed impossible. Keith smiles to himself as he watches the scene, and didn't even notice the other dog that came to sit by his feet and look up at him, almost like she knew what he was thinking. When Keith finally notices her, he kneels down next to her and scratches behind her ears, and even though her tongue lulls out he can still see that look in her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. He doesn't remember me." Keith mutters so Lance doesn't hear him.

The dog whines and Keith rolls his eyes. "Why am I even discussing this with you? You're a dog."

The dog gives him a very unamused look at that remark and Keith huffs. "You are almost exactly like a human. You scare me sometimes."

It looked like the dog smiled. "You are one impressive dog, I hope you know that."

Throughout his entire conversation with the dog, Keith had no idea that Lance had looked over at him and was now opening staring at the guy that was talking to a dog. He looked happy when he pet the dog as he talked to her, and it was a pretty adorable scene. The dog that Lance had been petting sits up right next to him and looks between the two humans before licking a long stripe up Lance's face to get him back into the present. Lance was shocked, but laughs as he cleans some of the slobber off of his face. "Okay girl, we can do what you want. How about I go adopt you and we can head home. But first I have to come up with a name for you…how about Blue? Since your eyes were the first thing I saw, and they're really blue."

The dog barks happily and Lance stands up to start walking back to Keith, who was in the process of trying to stand up. Lance clears his throat and Keith turns to look at him. "Well? Do you two get along?" He asks like he didn't watch the adorable exchange between the two of them just now.

Lance looks down at Blue and nods. "Yeah, I just can't wait to get her out of this shelter and get her home."

Keith was slightly disappointed, Lance was leaving again. But he should've expected it, the man wouldn't stick around the shelter all day, and neither would Keith for that matter because he had two other jobs that would need his attention today before he got a break. Keith tried not to let the disappointment show on his face. "Of course, Pidge'll help you with all the details for the adoption back at the front desk." Without another word, he attached a collar and rope to Blue's neck and led the two back to the front desk.

When they arrive at the desk Keith stands to the side Pidge and Lance run through the details fast because Pidge knew Lance used to have a dog and she knew he knew how to do basic care of a dog so she skipped that part entirely and went to the money, Blue's diet, and her exercise habits. Keith just watched the whole exchange until Shay came back over and they struck up another conversation about Keith's almost perfect adoption rate ever since he started to work there. Almost every single time he helped someone they walked out with a pet of some sort, whether they were actually looking to buy one or not.

When everything is finished Lance looks back over just as Shay says something to make Keith laugh and Lance's stomach bottoms out. It was Keith. Little orphan Keith that he would visit until his family moved to Cuba to be with his abuelita because of her slightly failing health. He was the boy that he had left behind. The boy that he had unknowingly fallen and stayed in love with. He was Keith! Lance walks over and interrupts the conversation between the two. "Haven't we met before?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Haven't we met before?" Lance asks.

Keith was at a loss for words. He didn't know Lance would actually remember him! He didn't think he was good enough to be remembered! He didn't think Lance had ever given him a second thought once he left. Maybe at the moment he could just lie and tell him he was confused with someone else because he didn't want to tie Lance down to him. Maybe he could deflect the realization that he had been in love with the other man ever since they were children.

Lance actually just did that. He just walked up to a guy that he _assumed_ to be the guy he knew from childhood and he just asked if they had met before. Was he stupid!? Was he crazy!? Did he have a death wish!? What was even happening!? Keith was absolutely silent, and he was starting to panic.

Shay looks between the two as they stared at each other before clearing her throat and knocking them both out of their thoughts. "So uh, I'm just gonna go but uh, congrats on your… reunion?" She quickly walked away and left the two men alone.

Once again they're stuck staring at each other in shocked silence. "What did you say?" Keith asks, just to make sure that he had heard him correctly.

Lance swallows thickly, "'haven't we met before?'" He repeats.

Keith scratches the back of his neck and looks to the floor. He didn't want to do this out in the open. People were staring and he didn't trust himself to actually say everything he wanted to if they were out in the open. "Can we go somewhere other than here, please?"

It was like that statement really did make Lance realize it could quite possibly be his Keith that stood in front of him. The orphan Keith had been shy, closed off, and not very comfortable in a lot of situations; with large crowds, around strangers, in an inescapable situation, and with pretty much any kind of social confrontation. "Yeah, sure." Lance answers.

Keith takes a hold of his wrist and leads him to the back room that held a small kitchenette, a couch, a table with three chairs, and a coffee table. "Go ahead and get comfortable, Blue can he on any of the furniture since it's all old."

Upon invitation, Blue gracefully jumps up onto the couch and drapes herself across one of the couch cushions. Lance sat on the cushion next to her, and when Keith finally was settled enough to look at him, he pat the seat. "How about you sit down too?"

Keith wordlessly makes his way to the couch and sits next to Lance. He was close enough that they could feel each other's body heat, but not close enough where they were touching or sitting on top of each other. "Have we actually met before?" Lance asks for the third time.

Keith nods mutely. Lance lets out a relieved breath and cards his hands through his hair. "I'm glad I didn't just make that up."

Keith sighs, "I almost wished it was made up."

Lance quickly turns his head to him, his relieved smile dropping. "Do you regret meeting me?"

Keith shakes his head and looks away from Lance's vicinity. "I regret that you met me."

The other boy was confused. "Why? The days I spent with you all those years were some of the best days of my life. I enjoyed talking to you, in fact, you made me enjoy school because I could look forward to that day every day, and I would keep my grades up to avoid being kept from the trip. I wanted to see you everyday Keith. I don't regret meeting you in the least bit."

"Even though I'm damaged? I told you the story. My parents are dead, any family I could've had ignored my parents' will and passed me around from family member to family member when I was a baby, and then I was finally dropped at the horrible orphanage until I was adopted at 16 years old. I'm a complete mess! I work three jobs, I still live with my adoptive family which is a married couple not that much older than me, and my life is practically a nightmare!"

Lance chuckles, and Keith looks at him in shock. "What's so funny?"

Lance looks at Keith and locks eyes with him. "You think I'm much better? My family has moved from Cuba to America to get away from poverty and starvation. My father wasn't allowed to get any jobs besides manual labor despite the degree he had. I was the first child in our family to be born on US soil, and some people still ridicule me because they think I'm an immigrant that's stealing people's jobs when in reality I can barely get a job myself. My sisters have been forced to get poor waitress jobs where they get harassed by crude customers and my abuelita died a few months ago, which is why I moved back here to get more money for my family since I'm one of the only US citizens in my family. I haven't seen my family in several months, almost a year, and some people have tried to assault me, harass me, or rob me. You see? My life isn't much better than yours. In fact, I think we're quite similar."

Keith moves closer to Lance so their legs were touched from hip to foot, and he leans his head on Lance's shoulder while lacing their fingers together so he could stroke the back of Lance's hand with his thumb. "So neither of us have had too easy of a life. In fact, I think your might be harder because once Shiro adopted me, my life improved greatly. I'm sorry about your family, and your abuelita. When you talked about her when we were younger, you always lit up when you talked about her."

Lance leans his head on the top of Keith's and sighs as he closes his eyes. "She was an amazing woman and I wouldn't have been the man I am without her. I miss her, Keith. Even though she's only been gone a few months. I still miss her."

"I don't blame you. I still miss my parents and I have no idea what they look like. The sense of missing something doesn't just go away with a little bit of time. I don't think it ever goes away, even when you don't even know what you're missing. You just have to live the way you think they wanted you to and hope they're proud of you."

Keith felt several of Lance's tears fall and soak his hair, so he straightened up and turned so he gave Lance a sort of awkward hug that Lance practically fell into. Blue jumps off the couch and walks around the pair so she was resting her nose on their laps to try and cheer Lance up. Lance laughs when he feels Blue's cold nose through his jeans, and he releases one hand from his embrace with Keith so he can rest it on Blue's soft head. "I haven't even known her for an hour and she already tries to cheer me up." Lance murmurs softly.

Keith chuckles, "yes well, dogs do that. They don't know you, yet they know everything about you."

The two break away and stare at each other for a long time. "In all the years that I've imagined us meeting again, I never thought I would cry."

Keith reaches up and brushes away the tear tracks on Lance's face with the pad of his thumb. "I never thought I'd see you again, so I didn't know what to think when I saw you waltz in through the front door."

Lance smiles softly. "I thought I'd impress you with being this cool, suave casanova. When in reality, I was dumbstruck when I figured out it was you. Even before I knew that you were the same boy that I had fallen in love with, I already had thought you were gorgeous."

Keith's eyes widen, and after a second Lance realizes what he said and his eyes grow wide too. "Y-you fell in love with me?"

Lance looks down at the floor and clears his throat. "Yeah well, you were cute back then and you were really nice. I didn't know what it was called back when I first met you. But I had butterflies in my stomach and couldn't get you off my mind. Even when I left, even time I saw the color purple I thought of your eyes."

Lance looks back up to see Keith's eyes watering. "You love me?"

Lance nods without breaking eye contact. "Yes, I do."

Keith lunges forward, tackles Lance to the couch, and kisses him. When he pulls back his tears are falling but he has the biggest smile on his face. "I love you too you idiot."


	5. Epilogue

**This is the last chapter to Haven't We Met Before? thank you to everyone that has commented, liked it, and stuck with it until now.**

* * *

 **~3 Years Later~**

Keith smiles to himself as he stands at the altar. He and Lance had been dating for three years, and after their reunion they had been inseparable. They had bought a two bedroom apartment together, Lance started working at the shelter, and they had adopted the Australian Kelpie from the shelter and named her Red, like they were the most original people in the world. They had been together through thick and thin, and had even helped most of Lance's family come to America, minus his sister and her husband and their kids because they were about to have another kid.

"Are you nervous?" Shiro asks as the time gets closer to Lance coming down the aisle.

Keith scoffs, "me, nervous? Oh, I'm terrified." He replies as he adjusts his tie and scratches the back of his neck. "He's not gonna leave me at the altar, is he? It's taking a little longer than I thought for him to come out."

Shiro laughs, "relax. Allura is helping him get ready. You know she's hard to satisfy when it comes to fashion, and Lance is pretty high maintenance too. Those two together, it'll take a while. And Lance is _not_ going to leave you. You two have been together for three years, you have two dogs, an apartment, and you're looking at adopting kids. I don't think your lives could get any better."

Keith nods, "yeah, you're right. He wouldn't leave me."

Shiro laughs again, "exactly. Now just relax, and wait."

Keith takes a deep breath and leans down a little to pet Red, who was sitting next to him in a tuxedo since she ripped up her dress the day before. She looks up at him like she was smiling and he relaxes a litle bit as he straightens to wait for Lance.

Once the organ starts to play, everyone stands up and Keith unknowingly holds his breath as Lance's littlest sister walks into the large greenhouse that they had decided to use as their wedding setting. She was their flower girl, and she walks in swinging the basket full of flowers while Blue walks next to her in her cute little blue dress. Lance's sisters were all his 'bridesmaids' since everyone decided that Lance would technically be the girl in the relationship. That was also the reason that Lance was going to walk down the aisle instead of both of them, or neither of them and it would just immediately start with them at the altar.

The next person to enter was Lance's mother, since she was the 'maid of honor', and finally Lance and his father walked in. Keith's breath leaves him like a punch to the chest when Lance walks in because he was absolutely breathtaking. He wore a completely white suit with a dark blue button up shirt that matched his eyes perfectly, and a white tie. He had grown out his hair for the past three years and it was swooped up with gel, and his smile was dazzling as he and his father walk arm and arm down the isle. He has a bouquet of red roses in his hand, and Keith felt like he was falling in love all over again as Lance finally approaches him.

They barely hear Coran as he read the ceremony, the only reason that they know when to say their vows was because Red and Blue nudged their legs and Shiro and Lance's mom mouth to them 'say your vows'. For almost all of the ceremony, Keith and Lance just stared at each other with love and admiration in their eyes until Coran says the lines before they're supposed to say the big words. Instead of making him do it twice, they had asked him prior to the ceremony to just say it once so they could say it in sync. "...Do you take each other, til death do you part, as long as you both shall live?"

Lance and Keith couldn't be happier to say the next two words that would unite them forever. "I do."


End file.
